Abstract:
The use of agro-waste products as reinforcements in the development of polymer composites for different engineering applications is increasingly gaining global attentions and acceptance. The reasons for the choice of agro-waste reinforcements include its cheaper cost, high hardness, strength and design flexibility. In this work, polymer matrix (epoxy resin) composites were developed using cow horn and corn cob particles, at different weight ratios, as the reinforcement. Hardness and wear resistance tests were performed so as to establish the reinforcement compositional ratio that gives the optimum performance in wear resistant applications. The cow horn and corn cob were produced, washed and sun-dried after which were milled and sieved into particles of less than 150 µm size. The particles were later added to the epoxy resin and hardener in different compositions. Thereafter, they were then thoroughly stirred and poured into already prepared moulds. Composites were produced after sintering them in an oven. The microstructure of the developed composites was examined using scanning electron microscope. Micro-hardness of the composites was measured using Vickers hardness tester while the wear rate of the composites was determined using abrasion wear tester. Microstructural analysis of the developed composite revealed that the corn cob appears to be fibre-like in a continuous epoxy resin matrix while the cow horn appears as particles in the epoxy resin matrix. The particles content and its uniform distribution are enhanced as the cow horn composition in the composite increased. Also, it was found that the hardness and wear resistance properties of the composite were enhanced as the composition (wt.%) of the cow horn in the composite increased. The optimumhardness and wear resistance performance were obtained with the samples with 20 wt.% cow horn and 0 wt.% corn cob. These performances reduced as the composition of the corn cob increased and composition of cow horn particles on decreased. Therefore this work shows that the cow horn particle is a better reinforcement material for polymer composite production for wear resistance applications.
